Rusty Menziesia, Fool's Huckleberry, False Azalea       men-zee-SHE-a   fer-ru-GI-nea

• Deciduous shrub, to 12 ft (3.6 m) tall, erect, straggly, spreading.   Branches often grouped and more or less appearing whorled, pubescent and glandular when young, when older have reddish, scaly-shredding bark.  Leaves alternate, simple, oblong to elliptic, 1.5-6.5 cm long, thin, margins finely serrate, main vein protrudes at apex, dark to blueish green, sparsely pubescent above, pale and minutely pubescent below, skunky odor when crushed; short petiole.  Both leaves and stems are sticky to the touch.  Flowers small, pinkish-orange to yellowish-white, urn-shaped, 6-8 mm long, 2-8 in terminal clusters.  Fruit a dry, ovoid capsule, 5-7 mm long.
• Part shade to shade.  A shade-tolerant shrub, in its range it is found mainly on steep, northerly exposures with abundant moisture.  It is also found in openings and on cut-over forest land, especially on well-drained slopes.
• Hardy to USDA Zone    Native to from Alaska south to northern California, east to western Montana.  Found in moist woods, well-drained soils in along the Pacific Coast and in the mountains.
• ferruginea: rust-colored, rusty.